FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2011
Contact:
Trisha Donaldson
212-257-6143
tdonaldson@drf.org
www.drf.org
DRF Increases grantmaking: 2011 Grant Recipients Announced
Deafness Research Foundation (DRF)’s National Hearing Health Grants Center is excited to announce that it has awarded over $600,000 to 25 outstanding research scientists in the field of hearing and balance science. For two years in a row, we are excited to announce an increase in our grantmaking.
Each year, DRF awards research grants to young investigators who are exploring new avenues of hearing and balance science. These funds will support research in the following areas:
Fundamental Auditory Research – development, genetics, molecular biology, physiology, anatomy, and regeneration biology;
Hearing and Balance Restoration – infants, children and adults
cochlear implant, auditory hair cell regeneration, and auditory nerve regeneration;
Hearing Loss – aging, noise-induced, otosclerosis, ototoxicity, and otitis media;
Central Auditory Processing Disorder;
Usher Syndrome; and
Vestibular and Balance Disorders (dizziness and vertigo, Meniere's disease).
For this year's grants selection, DRF's Council of Scientific Trustees reviewed applications from scientists at renowned research institutions around the U.S. The selected research projects received detailed peer review for scientific merit and program relevance. A complete list of the 2011 grant recipients is provided below, including recipients whose research is funded in whole or part by the DRF Centurion Clinical Research Award, the C.H.E.A.R. Endowment Award, Collette Ramsey Baker Research Award, and The Todd M. Bader Research Grant of The Barbara Epstein Foundation, Inc.
FIRST YEAR HEARING & BALANCE RESEARCH GRANT RECIPIENTS
Keith E. Bryan, Ph.D., University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine
Investigating the role of cabp1 in kcnq4 channel modulation
Brenton G. Cooper, Ph.D., Texas Christian University
Lateralization of acoustic perception in Bengalese finches
Regie Lyn P. Santos-Cortez, M.D., Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine
Identification of genes that predispose to chronic otitis media in the at population of Bolabog, Boracay island, Philippines
Elizabeth Dinces, M.D., M.S., Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Effects of aging on selective attention in complex multi-source sound environments
Carolyn P. Ojano-Dirain, Ph.D., The University of Florida College of Medicine
Prevention of aminoglycoside-induced hearing loss with the mitochondria-targeted
Sung-Ho Huh, Ph.D., Washington University School of Medicine
Role of fgfs in cochlear sensory epithelium
Albena Kantardzhieva, Ph.D., Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Defining the interaction partners of major proteins in the hair cell's synaptic ribbon
Shuh-Yow Lin, Ph.D., The University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
Molecular mechanisms of synaptic transmission in hair cells
Debashree Mukherjea, Ph.D., Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
Targeting inflammation in prevention and treatment of noise induced hearing loss
Erin K. Purcell, Ph.D., The University of Michigan, Kresge Hearing Research Institute
A stem cell-seeded nanofibrous scaffold for auditory nerve regeneration
Zlatka P. Stojanova, Ph.D., House Research Institute
Epigenetic regulation of the atoh1 gene
Jie Tang, Ph.D., Creighton University School of Medicine
Creation of a pendrin with both motor and transport functions
Ellen S. Wilch, Ph.D., Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
Identification of cis-regulatory gjb2 and gjb6 elements by chromosome conformation capture and investigation of potential cis-regulatory variants in persons with hearing loss and monoallelic mutation of gjb2
Hsiao-Huei Wu, Ph.D., The University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine
Regulation of inner ear development by hgf, the nonsyndromic hearing loss gene, dfnb39
SECOND YEAR HEARING & BALANCE RESEARCH GRANT RECIPIENTS
Edward L. Bartlett, Ph.D., Purdue University
Cellular bases of temporal auditory processing
Soyoun Cho, Ph.D., Oregon Health & Science University
Dynamics of exo- and endocytosis at hair cells
Frances Hannan, Ph.D., New York Medical College
The role of diaphanous in the auditory cytoskeleton
Michelle Hastings, Ph.D., Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Therapeutic correction of ush1c splicing in a mouse model of usher syndrome
Zhengqing Hu, M.D., Ph.D., Wayne State University School of Medicine
Innervation of in vitro-produced hair cell by neural progenitor-derived glutamatergic neurons
Judith S. Kempfle, M.D., Massachusetts Eye and Ear lnfirmary
Influence of bone morphogenetic protein 4 and retinoic acid on differentiation of inner ear stem cells
Neeliyath A. Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., Wayne State University School of Medicine
Molecular interactions of the hair-cell afferent synapse
DRF CENTURION CLINICAL RESEARCH AWARD RECIPIENT
James E. Saunders, M.D., Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
Genetic hearing loss in remote Nicaraguan families
This research award is funded by the Centurions of the Deafness Research Foundation. DRF has partnered with CORE Grants Program of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) to offer a one-year DRF Centurion Clinical Research Award (CCRA) for clinical research in hearing and balance science.
DRF C.H.E.A.R. ENDOWMENT GRANT RECIPIENT
Patricia White, Ph.D., University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
1st year grant recipient
The role of foxo3 in hearing protection
The C.H.E.A.R. endowment was created to support an annual sensory-neural Deafness Research Grant. C.H.E.A.R. (Children Hearing Education and Research) was absorbed into DRF in 1991, and we are very proud to continue their legacy of funding research in sensory-neural deafness.
COLLETTE RAMSEY BAKER RESEARCH AWARD RECIPIENT
Kirill Vadimovich Nourski, Ph.D., M.D., University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
1st year grant recipient
Temporal processing in human auditory cortex
This research award is made in memory of Deafness Research Foundation’s founder, Collette Ramsey Baker.
THE TODD M. BADER RESEARCH GRANT OF THE BARBARA EPSTEIN FOUNDATION, INC., RECIPIENT
Marcello Peppi, Ph.D., Massachusetts Eye and Ear lnfirmary
2nd year grant recipient
Molecular mechanisms of dexamethasone-mediated protection from acoustic trauma
This research award is funded by The Todd M. Bader Research Grant of The Barbara Epstein Foundation, Inc.
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Deafness Research Foundation is the leading national source of private funding for research in hearing and balance science. Research made possible by DRF grants has resulted in dramatic innovations that have increased options for those living with hearing and balance disorders, as well as protected those at risk. Since our inception in 1958, we have awarded over $26.6 million through more than 2,000 scientific research grants to researchers who are dedicated to exploring new avenues of hearing and balance science. With the potential of hearing restoration through regeneration biology, the scope of DRF-funded research has expanded enormously. Since 1972, DRF has funded close to 40 research grants that have been instrumental in the development, evaluation and improvement of cochlear implants. Approximately, 188,000 implant procedures have been completed worldwide with beneficial results, particularly when the procedure is undertaken in infants. DRF also publishes the award-winning Hearing HealthMagazine.
www.drf.org
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